Our busy life with an amazing veterinarian and cattleman, a gardening, quilting and history loving wife and mother, a creative perfectionist violinist, a spunky and kind epileptic princess, a sweet yet wild little man, and the most mellow and happy babe, on a joyful 1/2 acre living and loving in a beautiful mountain valley.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Many of you know that we don't have a TV with ANY channels, we have a TV for movies. I don't listen to anything on the radio but KTMP AM 1340, the local station that plays old country music. I do have the internet obviously, but I don't set aside a lot of time to just browse the news headlines. So I am pretty much in my own little world, and I LOVE IT!

Last week I went to Ogden for a huge Quilt Festival. I took classes, shopped the vendors, made new friends, went to the quilt show, etc. Ogden is about an hour and 15 minutes away and once I get a little past Park City, my beloved KTMP is gone. I have to listen real radio stations after that! So I scanned some channels and found some more music and VERY annoying commercials! How do you folks stand those high pitched, fast talking men trying to sell you a car or a great mortgage rate? Plus you know they are wearing a horrible purple and green pin striped suit that just puts the icing on the nasty cake!

Anyway, I was coming home on of those nights last week around 11:00 and I was listening to KSL news radio. The two guys were discussing what to do with a crack case lady who stole her crack baby from the hospital and drove for a few days and ended up in Tennessee. It kept me awake, although it bothered me too. When they had beat that drum to death, I had to change the channel or would have fallen dead asleep. I found some really loud horrible music that I could only understand every 5th word and kept it on that station for 20 minutes until I could get my beloved KTMP. Matt says I am too sheltered.

Last night the girls and I had to meet Matt in Wanship, 35 miles away, on his way home from work to trade cars so he could go fix some poor old horse there (vet supplies were in the other car). I listened to KSL again about the Bail Out Fall Out.Fortunately, I knew about the bail out thing but I hadn't realized that the Dow had dropped 777 points that day, the largest drop EVER until our little drive. So I listened to all they had to say about that. I listened to how Citi Bank or whomever is saving a bunch of HUGE companies from complete death. I remember a few weeks ago Matt asked me how much money we had in our Washington Mutual account and he told me they were on their way under.

This morning Matt and I dropped the girls off at school and headed up on the mountain for another load of firewood. We were discussing things - we are opening another IRA with New York Life this week, he asked how our finances with Northwestern Mutual were doing, the bail out, how Kelsey got student of the month, how Kendal can say the days of the week, what a nutcase teacher she has, how our finances were doing generally, what was for dinner tonight, you know, boring married people stuff. I made some comment about something and Matt said, "Not in the real world Rachel." I said something like "In MY real world that would work, but nobody seems to care about MY real world. If I ran the world things would be a whole lot more simple!" He laughed and laughed.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Saturday I went to an auction. Yes, I was a bidder, and boy did I bid! I loved hearing the auctioneers talk. When I first got there I got the giggles so badly because I was imagining my beautiful Brian Humphreys of the Bar J Wranglers singing The Auctioneer Song. Man, I love the Bar Js and I love that song for some reason. Anyway, my friend Jen, who truly is a great friend, told me about this auction. It was just a block from her house. She watched my kids while I raised my yellow bidding paper and bought a few tea sets. Everyone at the auction kept telling me that I needed to buy a tea set for my girls. I bet there were 40 tea sets for sale. I got 3 tea sets for $12.50. I really didn't want 3, but they kind of came together.

Kelsey and Kendal had "tea" yesterday afternoon and they loved it. I think they each drank about 32 ounces a piece. What a good way to keep your kids hydrated! Anyway, as Kelsey was carefully putting her little cups away, she said "Mom, having tea is so much fun, can we do it everyday about this time?" It was so Britishly cute!

So then after a few tea sets, I bought a 6 foot tall white bookcase. The ones you see everywhere, white pressed board stuff. But the kicker is I got it for $7.50. It looks great in the girls room and keeps some of the book clutter that Kendal loves so much out of the living room and Kelsey's hundreds of stuffed animals off her bed.

After that purchase I walked to Jen's house since the poor lady had both of my girls. She loaded up Charlee and I loaded up Kendal in strollers and we walked back down the the auction. That is when it turned bad, really bad. I bought this red sofa. I had scoped it out as did ALOT of people because they were all sitting on it, and the part I liked best was that the auction paper said it was a hide-a-bed. I need one of those! I feel so horrible when my sister in laws come to visit and I get out the air mattresses! So I wanted it, but I figured it would go a little too high for me. Well, I bought it with my amazing yellow card for $90. It is new I think and there is plastic on the new mattress.

It is squooshed in my front room, so this is a horrible picture. I forgot to mention the other 6 chairs I bought for the time share. They were bidding 4 dining room chairs for $20 and I had to buy them! I had the other chairs from the yard sale 2 weeks ago that were needing some attention. I figured it would cost me about $200 bucks at JoAnns to recover them, and here were 4 perfectly nice golden upholstered chairs for $20. SCORE! Plus, I really didn't want to do the work! Anyway, so the time share table I bought 2 weeks ago, 6 chairs I just purchased (2 more red ones) and the couch and love seat from the living room are all in the front room, along with my new red sofa. There was a blue sofa there with a brown slip cover there that I moved into the garage.

After I bought the red sofa, I stuck around to see what an amazing bunk bed set would go for. I was already in trouble, why not get in REAL trouble? I let the bunk beds go, darn it, but I bought us a bed! Look at how pretty it is! We have NEVER had a headboard or anything fun like this before. I got the new headboard, foot board, frame, new mattress, and new box springs for $195. I think it is so pretty. I need to get a longer dust cover though, our other bed wasn't this tall! Oh, I do have a problem with this new bed though. I keep walking around the bed and crashing into the foot board. I have a killer bruise and bump on my left thigh. I am used to walking around a SOFT cornered bed, not a foot board!

At this point in the auction I went and paid my bill, took the girls home, fed the poor darlings lunch, and went back to start loading the chairs into my car. I was a little irritated that Matt had our wonderful 8 foot bed truck muzzle loader hunting when I really could have used it to haul all my junk home! It is okay, he needed it too right? So I got all 6 chairs home making a couple of trips in the car (it was only about 3 blocks from my house). When I went back the second time for the chairs they were auctioning off some more nice furniture, some pretty NICE wicker chairs, a sleigh crib, a changing table, a bunch of screaming yellow/gold victorian chairs, etc. There weren't as many bidders at this time and when they got to the sectional sofa, not one person was bidding. I got it for $50. Can you believe it? 50 dollars! I knew Matt was going to skin me alive after buying the bed, so knowing that part of the sectional sofa had a recliner made it all seem a little better.

Here is the new sectional sofa in the living room, hence the 2 living room couches sitting on top of each other in the front room! I know the rug hideously clashes, but it didn't look so bad with the other couch. I will work on a new rug, the problem is that it will cost more than the sofa! Another added bonus is that there is also a hide-a-bed in this sofa. I didn't know that until Jen and I tried to lift it. Kelsey thinks it is great, she is sleeping on it right now.

Well, there is my Saturday treasure hunt. I had plans to take the girls and the Rowsers to Deer Creek Reservoir and play in the sand and water and have a picnic. NOPE - instead I made Jen help me load and unload my furniture all day. She truly is a great friend, thanks Jen. Since my truck was out of the county, we used her Avalanche. It saved the day. I have a new respect for her so-called truck. She calls it a truck and it makes me giggle because to me it is NOT a truck, it is an SUV with a little bed like thing. But you know what? It hauled a 3 piece sectional sofa, a red sofa, a 6 foot bookcase, and my entire new bed to my home. Now what is that? I guess I won't giggle anymore when she calls it a truck. I love the Avalanche and I love Jen for grunting all day with me. We both have sore bodies from lifting and unlifting my auction finds.

The funny thing is that all Jen bought was a computer monitor. She did want the bed, but she was too nice and just let me have it. Thanks girl, you know I need it! Another funny thing it that I put the initial 4 chairs I bought for the timeshare a few weeks ago on the front lawn with a free sign. Some nice, young father in a mini van came and got them. Jen also sent him to her house and gave him more treasures out of her garage. When the Proctors were helping me move the sectional sofa from the garage into the house last night at 8:30, he stopped back in and took my blue love seat with the suede brown slip cover! Sweet, evidence long gone!

Matt got home from hunting today at about 5:30. He was surprised to see his house COMPLETELY rearranged. I got everything in its place last night. The Proctors helped me with the sofas, thank goodness! Matt thinks I am amazing for the $50 sectional sofa with HIS recliner and Kelsey's hide a bed, I hope everything else grows on him as well!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

At 10:00 am Saturday morning Heber City was having a torrential downpour and for some reason, we still loaded up to go get firewood. I guess I figured it couldn't keep raining like that all day and maybe the mountains would be clearer. I was right, a little. We headed up above town and Matt took us a LONG way to find a few dead trees to cut down! He said he wanted me to see how pretty a certain spot was. It was pretty but I was worried we were going to get really wet!

Jen and her boys came up to help and we had great time. The kids loved watching Matt cut down the trees but they were disgusted that he had forgotten to say "TIMBER" before they hit the ground!

Derek came along too and it was a good thing. 15 year old boys have a lot of energy! We did get sprinkled on, but nothing too horrible. The kids were a great help packing the wood to the truck and they had a good time being in the great outdoors.

Matt said it felt good to run a chainsaw again. He was reminded of the 4 summers he spent working for the Forest Service on Boulder Mountain. Those were good times!

After the wood was all loaded, we headed just d0wn the road to Strawberry Reservoir where the Kokanee Salmon were running. We all liked seeing the brilliant red fish swimming up the river.

We all walked up to the holding tanks and got a great explanation of the Kokanee Salmon and their life cycle. The cute girl in the tank was so great with our kids. She was telling us all about the male fish and the female fish and how they separate them as they come up the river and then collect the eggs from the females. The kids wanted to know what they did with the eggs after they collected them, so the cute girls said "We put the eggs in a 5 gallon bucket and add the sperm to the eggs so baby fish can be made." Jen and I looked at each other and hoped the kids didn't ask what sperm was!

Jacob and Kendal loved squeezing the pretty orange eggs out of this dead fish. Jacob kept picking the eggs up very carefully and putting them back in the water.

On our walk back to the parking lot we ran into a lady with a bunch of birds of prey. This one is a barn owl and it was fun to hear its' story. They also got to see a falcon and a bunch of other animals in the visitors center that I missed. Jen said something about a porcipine and a boa constrictor and I am glad I missed that one!

We ran into SMOKEY on our way out also. He wanted the kids to give him a '5' and Kendal finally did. She still wasn't too sure about him though. Jen loved SMOKEY too. She has a great story of why she is loving SMOKEY, but I will let her tell it on the comments!

What a fun Saturday we had. We got back around 3:30 or 4 and started our wood pile. Now comes the splitting of the wood! YEAH! I have quite a few memories of going to get wood in the fall with my family. I hope our kids will have fond memories of the smell of a chain saw, cheese and crackers, vienna sausages, crisp air, and being together in the mountains. This is the first trip of many!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

My cousin Bob came up Thursday night and fixed the carpet around our tile. Look at how good it looks!!! Thanks so much Bob! Now, I can post pictures of our new stove. Imagine Heber City covered in a blanket of snow, then imagine a nice fire roaring orange in our pretty stove. MMMMMMMMMM, with some hot chocolate in hand sitting on the couch. I guess fall is sounding okay after all, there isn't much I can do about it anyway, I might enjoy it a little bit!

Matt did a great job on our tile, but he said he is not too exicted about doing our kitchen and dining area. Maybe our plans will change! I bought a wood permit yesterday, so I think that is where we are headed today!

Friday, September 19, 2008

I had about 1/2 hour yesterday in between errands so I went to the thrift store again! Thursdays are much better than Wednesdays, and I didn't know all the good things I had missed on Wednesdays, so it was wonderful. Not NEARLY as many people! Anyway, I went to see if the black plates were still there for the timeshare, of course not! So then I just mosied around and found myself once again in front of the kids Halloween costumes. There was the cutest snow fairy or whatever dress for $1.00, knowing the joy that would occur on Kelsey's face, how could I pass that up?

When Kelsey got home from school, Kendal and Kelsey broke out the dress ups. I gave Kelsey the new white dress and I did see the joy on her face that I was expecting! I love it, she is so readable. Kendal wore one of the amazing outfits I had gotten last week at the thrift store.

So my girls danced around for about an hour until I could no longer take it and then I made them get dressed and we went outside. I love September weather, it has been so nice here lately. I have to ignore the fact that when I look west and see the hills and mountains above Midway on FIRE with gorgeous leaves that fall is truly here.

One more thing, Kelsey will be so angry if she knows that I tell this, so please keep this secret! Yesterday I went to her class and taught a little art project that is called Meet the Masters. We do it every month. Her class was out to lunch recess when I got there so I started setting up - passing out papers on the desks, hanging up examples, etc. Then her class came in. She was one of the first ones in and she ran to me and threw her arms around my waist and said "Mom, oh Mom. I love you. I am so happy you are here. Oh Mom, you are the best mom ever. blablabla." I pryed her off of me and told her and all her class that had now gathered for the show to go sit down and we would start soon. Just then the other mom that came to help me came in. She didn't get the killer waist squeeze or even a hello from her kid.

During the project Kelsey is telling everyone that I am her mom and she is telling me "Mom, his name is Zac, Mom, that is Gissele." When we finished the art project, Kelsey of course had to give me more love and more gushing words. I see the other mom kneeling down at a desk to what I gathered was her son. He was talking to her quietly and then we left.

Is that the NORMAL difference between boys and girls? Or is my Kelsey overly dramatic? I really want to know this one!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Update on the Cranes -Yesterday our wood burning stove was installed on the amazing tile job Matt and I accomplished! HOORAY!! It is such a pretty stove, and the tile is gorgeous! I will post pictures at the end of the week when the carpet gets tucked back where it needs to be.Kendal loves pre-school. She pitched a nice little fit yesterday when I went to pick her up because she didn't want to leave.Kelsey got assigned a 'spelling list group' this week and from the looks of her spelling list words, she is pretty dang smart. When was 'think' and 'stand' spelling words for 1st graders during their first month of school?!?!I think I have plantar fasciitis. I am serious. Holy SMACK my feet hurt!Matt is in love with me.I spent all blankedyblanken day preparing for our Enrichment Meeting tonight, which turned out pretty good. We had a lot of good food - that means a success right? My kitchen was a mess, I just turned on the dishwasher AGAIN and I am going to bed.

One more thing, my friend Jen is having a THE BIGGEST LOSER contest. Yes, as in lose a few pounds. You pay $20 into the pot to enter, it runs 10 weeks, we have weekly weigh ins (in the privacy of your own home), it is measured by percentage, and it begins on Thursday! If you want details go to her blog on the left, it is called ROWSERS. Hope a few of you get in the game with us! I like a little friendly competition! The pot is getting larger and larger, come on lets see who the biggest loser is!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Saturday I bought a kitchen table and 4 chairs at a friend's yard sale for my mom and dad's timeshare. A screaming deal for $10, plus they delivered it! I had them put the table and chairs in my front room and it immediately turned into a playground for my kids. The best part about this playground is that I didn't hear a peep from them for about an hour on Saturday and a few hours on Sunday.

I love it when my girls get along and there is no screaming or hitting or pinching! LOVE IT! The game they played was QUEEN and believe it or not, Kendal got to be the queen the entire time! Kelsey just kept bringing toys and books to Kendal as she sat on her throne.

I just cleaned up the throne room this morning. Man, did they track some junk in there! I am not complaining, they were happy and so was I!

Now comes the hard part of the yard sale deal, we get to recover the chairs. I told Tori I needed some help and she was excited. I hope I can get excited to.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

I finally did it! Another one of those things I have been wanting to do for a LONG time is get a pedicure. My mom and a few of my friends said that I must. So, as the girls were both in school, I headed down to Heber Nails, sat in a massaging chair and got a pedicure. It was nice! I wish I could soak my feet in nearly-too-hot-water all day and have that wonderful goo slathered between my toes all the time, not to mention the leg massage. I am a little embarrassed about that. I figured if I shaved my legs nicely most of the way up my leg and wore capris that I would be okay. I had NO IDEA they slathered and rubbed clear up to the knee! Oh well, there are worse things.

Look at the sweet foam flip flops I got out of the deal too! I planned on wearing them all next summer and the one after that, but Kendal made quick work of those babies! She is a little rough on things. The tingling sensation on my legs and ankles from the delicious lotion lasted longer than those sweet little things! They got me to the car without smudging my polish. That is what I had to tell Kelsey, she was a little upset with the destruction of the foam flip flops.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Remember when I wrote that I had so many things I wanted to do while the 2 girls are in school? Well, I did one today. I dropped the girls off at school (it is raining cats and dogs and mice here) and went to St. Lawrence Thrift Store. I got there at 8:51 and I was the 3rd car in the parking lot. I knew they opened at 9:00 and I didn't get breakfast so I decided to run to Mickey D's for a quick sausage biscuit. When I got back to the thrift store it was 8:59 and the parking lot was half full. As I sat in my car eating my delicious breakfast, the cars just came flooding in. There was a line at the door of the thrift store that had at least 18 people in it that had formed while I drank my OJ. It was so crazy to me!

I am the kind of person that AVOIDS the day after Thanksgiving shopping like the plague and I miss some of the other BIG sales on purpose! I hate hate hate shopping with the rest of the population! Anyway, they opened the doors and let everyone in. I took a couple deep breaths, reminded myself that I had been wanting to come here with no children for a long time, and then I got out of the car.

As soon as I entered the building, I headed for whatever area had the least amount of people. In biology this is called DIFFUSION - the movement of molecules from an area of higher concentration to an area of lesser concentration. That was me - a little molecule practicing diffusion. The area of lesser concentration took me to the kitchenwares. That was okay with me I guess. I actually found some nice black plates, saucers, and cups for the timeshare. I didn't buy them though, maybe I will go back later and they will be gone. Oh, I forgot to mention why Wednesday mornings are so crazy at St. Lawrence Thrift - they are closed Mondays and Tuesdays for restocking, so Wednesday morning is the best time for FRESH goods.

After the kitchenwares, I made my way past the sports equipment and ran straight into a rack of Halloween costumes. SCORE!! My girls LOVE to play dress up and most of the dress ups we have a getting a little small for my Kelsey. I keep thinking she will grow out of playing dress ups soon, but then I remember I was still playing dress ups when I was 10 years old - maybe older!

Anyway, I scored 5 dress up/Halloween outfits for the girls, a sweet scary costume for Matt (wish me luck on this one!), and a very cool witches dress, hat, and black boa for myself for a whopping $21!! I guess I love St. Lawrence Thrift Store now too and I can get past ALL the people there on Wednesday mornings. I suppose that will be my weekly Wednesday morning outing - drop the girls off at school and go to the thrift store, and oh yeah, grab a sausage biscuit and OJ!

Monday, September 08, 2008

My dad has teasingly asked us for the past few years if we are going to buy into his timeshare so we will have a place to stay when we go visit him. Well, here is the timeshare.

July 4th weekend, my dad had the concrete come so Matt and Jared could help with the footings.

My dad then poured the floor walls, did all the plumbing and whatever else there is that has to be done, and put on the floor.

Labor Day is when Matt and Jared helped lay out the first string of logs on the floor for the outside walls.

This past weekend, Matt and Jared were ready for more building action, so we headed south again. My dad had put on the 5 or 6 bottom logs all the way around during the week so it would be ready to do the taller part when the boys were there.

I got to run the crane until I hit Matt in the head with the claw. After that they were a little wary of me and my crane-operator skills! He said there was blood, I feel pretty badly about that. Good thing they are all tough! Jared didn't even wear gloves! And it was so stinking hot both days!

It was a fun weekend. The guys worked nearly every second on the 'timeshare' and the ladies just hung out. We went down to Capitol Reef National Park to pick the largest load of peaches anyone had ever seen, but they were all gone! Kendal and Kelsey love going to grandma and grandpa's and they LOVED playing with baby Brogan. Kendal calls him "baby BoBo." Thanks again for taking care of us mom!

Friday, September 05, 2008

All summer long I have thought about what life will be like when school starts. I WAS NOT looking forward to that time, but I was thinking about it. Kelsey is in school now all day and Kendal goes for 2 1/2 hours in the mornings. I figured I would have all this time to do some things that I have been wanting to do. I thought my yard would be spiffed up nice for fall, my bathrooms would look good ALL the time instead of once every 10 days or so, I could read blogs and post something great on mine, and I really thought I would have so many quilting projects finished.Where has the time all gone? Kendal has been in school for a week and what have I done? I am not sure, but not what I had planned!This week I did attend a Gold Medal Mile meeting (PTA), a training for Meet the Masters program (more PTA), helped Matt lay tile (most of it anyway), went to the park for play group with Kendal, made 24 chicken freezer meal dinners, had a hot dog roast with a bunch of friends, went to my glorious quilt guild meeting, picked Kendal up promptly from school, and what else? Did you hear any quilting, bathroom cleaning or yard work going on in there? Me neither!I need to get a handle on life before it gets me. I have some great pictures to post from our WONDERFUL LABOR DAY WEEKEND FAMILY REUNION, but we are headed south again for the weekend for some great fun, so here we go!